Alfred Dedreux (1810–1860) as a Child  1820

The subject of this portrait is the nephew of Gericault’s friend the painter Pierre-Joseph Dedreux-Dorcy. This canvas is one of a small group of drawings and paintings (in various collections) that depict the eight- or nine-year-old Alfred and his younger sister, Elisabeth, with remarkable self-possession and grace for their age. Alfred became a painter and, like Gericault...